Inuit leader says he's been reassured Bill C-5 won't violate modern treaties
Natan Obed met PM in Inuvik, N.W.T., to discuss major projects bill
The president of the group representing Inuit in Canada says he's been given reassurances that Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to fast-track major nation-building projects won't violate modern treaties and there will be "full partnership of the Inuit within these processes."
The prime minister met with Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and other Inuit leaders in Inuvik, NW.T., as he ramps up his outreach to Indigenous communities about his plans for major projects in Canada.
"[Carney] was unequivocal in stating that this legislation will not interrupt the processes that have been set up under our modern treaties when it comes to environmental assessment, when it comes to project reviews," Obed told reporters Thursday afternoon.
When asked whether land claim organizations have a veto, Obed said provisions in their agreements "could be defined as vetoes, but really we see them as enabling."
He said Inuit "have spent the last 40 years trying to figure out how to create circumstances where we are a part of the process all the way through."
Inuvik, one of Canada's northernmost towns, hosted the prime minister, several cabinet ministers and Inuit leaders for what's known as the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee.
Carney and Obed co-chaired the meeting, which focused on the Liberal government's major projects law, infrastructure needs in Inuit Nunangat (the Inuit homeland in Canada), Canada's Arctic foreign policy and the need to further protect the security and sovereignty of the Arctic and Inuit Nunangat.
"Today's Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee meeting was about building our shared future and Inuit Nunangat's full economic potential," Carney said in a statement on Thursday.
"In partnership, Inuit and the federal government will build major projects that connect and transform our economy, create greater prosperity and opportunities and build a stronger Canada."
The major projects law, known as Bill C-5, enables the federal cabinet to invoke emergency-like powers for projects deemed in the national interest, such as pipelines, railways and transmission lines, allowing the government to approve them upfront.
That approval comes even before an environmental assessment and the Crown's constitutional duty to consult affected Indigenous communities is complete.
Carney held a similar summit in Gatineau, Que., with First Nations chiefs earlier this month. Some said they supported his efforts, while others stormed out — calling it political theatre. First Nations in Ontario have launched a court challenge to C-5 and a similar provincial law.
There are concerns that the upfront approvals enabled by C-5 could override northern environmental and development assessment regimes. These reviews are fundamental components of the modern treaties that the federal government signed with Inuit and northern First Nations starting in the 1970s.
In his remarks opening the meeting, Carney addressed those worries.
"The act fully respects treaty rights, including modern treaties," Carney said. "It fully respects treaty-based environmental assessment processes. In fact, those will be essential for anything that we move forward on."
In addition to discussing major projects, Carney said the meetings would address issues related to Arctic security, defence, education, health and social services for people in the region. The prime minister also announced that Canada is appointing its first Arctic ambassador to advance the interests of the North internationally.
Nunavut-based Inuit leader Virginia Mearns was named to that role.
Northern projects being pitched
Northern politicians and Inuit leaders have been pitching Inuit-backed projects, hoping they will be among those deemed to be in the national interest.
One such project is the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link, with the goal of connecting Nunavut's mainland communities to Manitoba's power grid and joining the rest of the country in enjoying high-speed fibre-optic internet.
Another, the Grays Bay Port and Road project, could offer Nunavut easier access to its resource-rich areas and western provinces a direct link to the Northwest Passage.
A subsidiary of the region's Kitikmeot Inuit Association is proposing to build a deepwater port on Nunavut's mainland in the Coronation Gulf.
"It's kind of a win-win situation for everybody," said Fred Pedersen, the executive director of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. He said taxes and royalties earned from the economic development made possible by the port and road would cover the cost in a matter of years.
"It has so much potential for critical minerals. It will open up, but also it will assert our sovereignty in the Arctic," said Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok.
The project is currently undergoing the territorial environmental review process, but already has the backing of Akeeagok and N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson.
N.W.T. also wants a road down the Mackenzie Valley, which Simpson sees as a critical defence link.
The former executive director of the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, Tom Hoefer, notes that much of what the North considers a project in the national interest is basic infrastructure that most communities in the rest of the country already have.
"They've been underinvested in by Canada over the last 50 years," Hoefer, who was born and raised in the North, told CBC News in an interview. "And so we've sort of been asleep at the switch on that front."
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is attempting to develop a well outside Inuvik to provide a domestic solution to what Duane Ningaqsiq Smith, CEO of the corporation representing six Inuit communities, calls concerns over energy security.
Inuvik trucks propane about 2,000 kilometres from B.C. and up the gravel-packed Dempster Highway, at tremendous cost, especially when, Smith and others point out, the region sits on substantial natural gas reserves.
At the same time, Inuvialuit leaders say concerns over food security, housing and health care must be addressed.
"My region right now doesn't even have dental services. So people have to get sent close to a thousand kilometres to the nearest dental facility, if not further," Smith said. "The average Canadian would not accept that."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
